ON THE EDGE: Surf up for contest at Misquamicut

Waves have been hard to come by for the past two months.
Contest organizers kept their fingers crossed, in hopes of having surf for the 2nd Annual “Catch A Curl” ESA contest, held this past Saturday. ESA kids had a great time in some fun surf, with the event held at the Westerly Town Beach.
“We were very fortunate to get sunny skies, warm air temperatures, and nice surf for the second straight year,” contest director Mistral Dobson said. “The level of surfing was up several notches this year for sure.”
Misquamicut Beach displayed its typical form for the contest. There were waist to chest high peaks, fast and hollow, with some elusive sections, showing up randomly. Those who got in early and often, took home the prizes.
It was hard to overlook two outstanding performances. Cape Cod’s ESA super grom, Rob Goodwin, was determined to find the best waves, and did just that.
He also managed to float through some nice sections and rack up the two highest scoring rides, topping the Menehune Open Boys Final.
The strategy for Narragansett’s Andrew Nota was to take out his vintage 1963 single fin longboard and “get into the waves as early as possible,” to beat out the fast sectioning peaks. This strategy worked, especially evident when he picked off what was probably the best and biggest wave of the day, working it from the outside to win the Junior Men’s title.
The biggest group of competitors was the Wahine Girls category, which required several elimination heats to determine the winner.
Kelly Giffault managed to slide across two nice right-handers, as she topped her sister, Leigh in the final heat, for the win. Charlotte Robbin not only took the most waves in the Wahine-Mini Girls Final, she also caught the best ones. In a close one, she edged out Georgia Parsons to take the title.
Nick Curci won the Kahuna-Boys division by a wide margin over Nico Foster. In one of the closest finals, Jim Robbin topped Rob Goodwin for the Ankel Biters crown.
The next ESA event will be this weekend’s “Battle of the Brews” adults only contest, featuring both long and short board categories for all ages. This contest will take place at the Narragansett Town Beach.